I have a 93 GS300 that I just installed a system in. The amp is an kenwood 9152D and the sub is an kicker L7 12". And I have a alpine head unit. The problem im having is when I turn it up it sounds really good but after a min or so the sub cuts off. What could be the problem? Could it be the amp isn't strong enough to push the sub? Thanks in advance....

 

Betcha the amp is going into "protection" mode (either the subs are drawing too much current or the amp isn't cooling fast enough). What Ohm rating is the sub? single or dual voice coil? What's the power rating on the amp? How many channels? And are you bridging channels together? Is the amp 2ohm stable?

We need more info in order to help you out.
Chris

 

The amps is 4 ohm-500x1 and 2 ohm-900x1 and 1 ohm-900x1 and the sub is a dual voice coil and be wired as 1 ohm to 8 ohm. I have to look and see how the sub is wired tomarrow. Thanks Chis and others for the help.

 

its clipping.....probably wired wrong or wired into too low an ohm load.

 

So your saying that the sub may not be wired right? Or the amp isn't wired right? And would this blow the sub or the amp?

 

ok after looking up the specs on both the amp and sub......you are running a 4ohm dual voice coil sub hooked up to an amp that in theory should be able to power this thing no problem. Does your sub have 2 sets of speaker wire going to it from the amp? (one set for each voice coil?) or is it just 1 set of speaker wire to the sub? If you have 2 sets of wires going to the sub, then the amp is "seeing" a 2ohm load (4ohm + 4ohm). You may need to replace the sub with a 8ohm dual voice coil sub so that the amp "sees" a 4ohm load (much better for the amp). Running a 2ohm load on a constant basis produces tons of heat as it pushes the amp to its limits (yes, I know Kenwood says the amp is 1ohm stable but probably not for extended periods of time).
Also, make sure you look at the amp and check for the "protection light" to see if and when it comes on. Check the gauge of wire going to the amp, you should have a min. of 4g wire hooked up (both power and ground). Also check to see how much airspace is around the amp, if it is mounted too close to something, it may not be cooling properly.
Let me know what you find out.
Chris

 

Thanks for the reply. The amp only has one set of wires going to the sub. The sub has 4 leads 2 pos and 1 neg. For im thinking is for the duel voice coils. The amp has a 1/O power wire to a fuse and drops down to a 4 ga. And has a 1/O ground to the fram. Ill have to check and see again how the sub is wired, I forgot how the jumpers were. And ill have to check the ground to see if its tight.

 

If your sub was correctly wired for parallel operation, you should see 2 "+" inputs tied together, and 2 "-" inputs tied together. These then go to the + and - of the amp output. Make sure neither of these wires touch the chassis anywhere.

By the way, your amp is not clipping. It might be overheating. Is the area well ventilated? Does if feel very hot when it shuts down? Does it come back alive after a period of time?

Free test: Try wiring the two coils on the sub in series rather than parallel. Tie thre + of one coil to the - of the other. (See the manual if any doubt--they have a nice diagram.) Then drive the remaining +/- from the amp. Yes, it's "only" an 8 ohm load, but it means you'll swing larger voltage and run the amp cooler. If it gets loud enough without clipping, that's all that matters.